Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday! I haven’t done one of these in a while, and, if you saw my previous post, I want to do these again! They’re so much fun and are generally such a good idea!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the amazing group at The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, there is a new theme to follow!

This week, the theme is “Back to School”. Basically, I can make my own topic as long as it’s school-related! Therefore, I’m going with Top Ten book-to-class combinations. I’m going to try to relate each class I’ve taken with a book I’ve read! Let’s see how this goes.

1. - Math - An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green

The main character is kind of a math nerd, and there’s graphs and plots in the book. Enough said, hahah.

2. - Music - If I Stay, by Gayle Forman

Mia, the main character, is a cello prodigy. Music brings her to life, in more ways than one.

3. - English - The Giver, by Lois Lowry

Purely because this is my favorite book that I’ve ever had to read for an english class. Thank you so much, Mrs. S!

4. - History - Stravaganza, by Mary Hofman

This book takes place in Renaissance Italy, a time period I love!

5. - Geography - Lets get Lost, by Adi Alsaid

I haven’t read it yet, oops! ^-^

6. - Chemistry - Siberia, by Ann Halam

Ok so technically Siberia is more a book about biology and genetics... but hey chem’s involved in that! I really wish I could read a book about a true chem nerd, who realizes the world isn’t what it seems and uses his/her chem knowledge to save stuff! That would be so cool, hahaha!

7. - Science - Illuminae, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

One of the best sci-fi books I have ever read! And I pre-ordered a signed copy + merch of book 2!!! *Happy dance*

8. - Environmental Studies - Exodus, by Julie Bertagna

Honestly one of the best books I have read regarding climate change. I have book 2 here, and I’m looking forward to re-reading it!

9. - Art - A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas

Feyre and art. Of course :) (I need book 3... ;-; )

10. - Reading time - (Aka my currently reading)

I’m almost done reading an ARC of Dancing in the Rain, and then I’ll be reading The Alchemist :)

Sunday, August 28, 2016

"A cold February morning . . . a snowy road . . . and suddenly all of Mia's choices are gone. Except one.As alone as she'll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all.Haunting, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, If I Stay will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you've lost - and all that might be.”I had no idea what to expect with this book - looking at just the title I imagined it was about a girl who was planning to run away. (Like the whole ‘what if I stayed’ idea). I was definitely not expecting it to be about a choice regarding weather to live or die... Mia and her family got on the road one snowy morning, and their car crashed. She thinks she is still alive, when actually, she is a sort of ghost - a consciousness of sorts, that can see and hear everything that’s happening around her. She sees her dying body as it is taken to the hospital, her grandparents, friends and boyfriend at her bedside, and realizes that she has an ultimate to choice to make - weather to fight and stay with the living, or let go. This book was a short, 200-page read, packed with emotions on every page. It was written out in a series of flashbacks, going over some important events in Mia’s life. More specifically, it goes over her relationship with her family, her boyfriend, and her best friend. This book, as far as characters go, is incredible. I thought that each of the characters were super well-defined, and felt really realistic. Mia is a cello prodigy. She is a good-ish student, who loves classical music and is really close to her family. She describes herself as somewhat dark and quiet. Her life ambition is to go to Juliard, the music school, but is torn between going there and staying with her boyfriendHer friend, Kim, is very similar. She’s into photography and they get along right away. Her boyfriend, Adam, is a real sweetie. He’s in a rising band, and does everything he can just to make Mia smile. Her parents were both into rock music when they were young, and now are more settled down. She is really close to them. Mia is also a great older sister for her brother, Teddy. The book really goes over her relation with all of these characters, and their relations to each other. Some of the stories she remembers are incredibly sweet, and they just made me smile so much! This book kind of when up and down with emotions - first, it started off at a high with the snow day that made them get in the car in the first place. Then the accident... the book was constructed in in such a way that it worked as a cycle - Mia would have a flashback or a memory, then she would be in the hospital, watching doctors operate on her, or watch her loved ones talking to her. I think this might be one of those super rare book-to-movie adaptations where the movie has a stronger effect on me than the book. You can tell while reading this that it would make a great movie! (If done right, of course =p) . I love books that are plot-driven and with great characters. There wasn’t much of a plot here, it was mostly memory-based. I was expecting it to make me cry. While it got me really emotional, that’s as far as it got ^-^"Overall, I’m giving this book a 4/5 feathers! Super sweet, and the feels were real! I just wish the book was maybe a little bit longer, so that I could really connect with the characters more.

Have you read or watched If I Stay? What did you think? Let me know!Have a great day!

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Hey all! So it’s not that I haven’t been active lately, but I’ve been feeling a little bit... out of the whole blogger game. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love blogging! I just feel like this blog I have created is at a bit of a stand-still. Therefore, this is what I’m going to do: - (Finally!) fill out my list of reviews! It’s been months since I’ve added a link there! ^-^ - (Finally!) Finish my ARCs- (Finally!) Add my reviews on Goodreads. I keep posting “Review to be added” but then I never add them... this might take a few hours, but I think it’ll be worth it :) - (Finally!) Catch up on my tags- Change the side-bars on my blog- participate in Top Ten Tuesday again, and maybe another meme? Any suggestions? - re-activate my Facebook page, and add things from my blog, my insta, and other bookish links I might find on it. I know this post was short, but I feel like I should let you guys know what’s going on. If you see me be super active this weekend, then you know why! Do you guys have any other suggestions? Let me know! :D Have an awesome day!

Sunday, August 21, 2016

"Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.”This was one of the books I was highly anticipating last year, and it did not disappoint! Although it took me a little while to get attached to the plot and the characters, they eventually grew on me, and I ended up really enjoying this! Snow like Ashes is about Meira, a girl training to be a soldier with the last few remaining Winterian refugees. She really just wants to prove herself worthy of going out on missions and fighting like the others. One day, she is sent out on a mission, and comes back mostly successfully. Things fold out from this, going into a crazy fantasy world. So imagine the seasons each having their kingdom and their people. Kind of like Avatar (the last airbender) but with seasons. Magic is present but rare, and is reserved to a few people. These seasons are at war. Spring is the bad season in this book - they want to own the other seasons. It sounds so cheesy when I’m writing this, but I promise it’s far from it! Sara Raasch managed to take this idea and create an awesome world, full of plotting between kingdoms and unexpected turns, with characters you can really either relate to or come to understand. I loved the characters! Like I said it took me a while to get into the book but it was great once I did! Meira feels like a pawn in a huge game, and all she wants to do is prove herself - so she plays along, although not without grudges. She’s head-strong and smart. She did scare me sometimes, when she lost control... But I must say, she is super brave, and incredibly skilled. At times she seemed slightly off as a character - there’s an obvious love triangle, but even though one side of it is portrayed as sweet, I feel like that side is a bit forced and it’s like it just fell upon her... you know? She has one of the most incredible character growths that I’ve read in a long time, though! She matures so much in just a few months! Mather is such a sweet, protective yet slightly confused-like king-to-be. He’s often caught in situations in which he has no choice, and you can really tell that he does not like to be forced into making such choices. I loved all of the other characters - Sir, Theron, and all of the others... even the bad guys were amazing!! They weren’t really new or unique or anything but they’re amazing anyway! The plot was such a good idea! I don’t want to say too much about it because, ahem, spoilers, but honestly, it was so worth the read for the story! What I really liked was some of the revelations made throughout the book. Some you see coming, and others just leave you completely surprised! Such a great high-fantasy!

Overall, I’m giving this a 4.5/5 feathers, just because of the fact that it took me a while to get into. I can’t wait to read the next books!!!

Have you read Snow like Ashes? What did you think about it? Let me know! :D

Monday, August 15, 2016

Hey all! I figured it was time to do another bookish talk! :D I love writing these so I figured, why not? This will have more than just book-related things, because I feel talkative right now!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child I’m sad to hear that this book is getting so many negative reviews - I loved it! It put me in such a good mood to go back to the Wizarding World. I think that people don’t realize a few important points. First, it’s a play, it’s not going to be read like the rest of the series. Second, nineteen years went by! ’Tis normal if the characters seem a little different, we have no idea what happened within 19 years. Read it with an open mind, and let familiarities make you smile! Contemporary BooksNow, contemporary isn’t my favorite genre, but I have a lot of contemporary books here with me in Australia! Look out for a review of Since You’ve Been Gone coming up soon! I just think that they are such great summer reads! Welllll, it’s winter here, but I’m still in a summer state of mind. (That sounds like a title of a song... *googles* ... Hey it is a song!) Blog Changes? Maybe? I was wondering what you guys thought of my blog. I mean, I know that if you’re reading this you’re probably going to be a regular around here, but I was wondering what you honestly think about it. I was scrolling through it today and thought that all the white made it look quite... plain? But I also quite like it? My Ilvermorny house!So in honor of the Harry Potter craze going around, I went ahead and got myself sorted into my Ilvermorny house. You may or may not know that I’m a true-blue Ravenclaw in Hogwarts. When I took the Ilvermorny quiz and saw my result, I thought it meant I was more like Slytherin! Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but hey when you know your house and someone just says ‘no’ it comes as a surprise. I’m in Horned Serpent!... What does that mean? I did some research and found that it represents the mind, and preferred intellectuals. Cool! What’s your Ilvermorny house? :) AustraliaHere’s some stuff going on in my head when I’m here. No, I don’t mean any of these offensively or strangely in any way, they’re just in my head sometimes! ^-^

Ok I might be the ultimate nerd now... On top of joining the Science Association, I also joined the University Science Fiction and Fantasy Association... But it looks so fun! I can sense you guys judging me, stahp it XD

That’s it from me for tis bookish talk! It wasn’t really bookish, but oh well!

Saturday, August 13, 2016

“Seventeen-year-old Jonah Daniels has lived in Verona Cove, California, his whole life and only one thing has changed: his father used to be alive, and now he’s not. Reeling from the tragedy, Jonah must take care of his family. Enter Vivi Alexander, new girl in town. Vivi is in love with life. A gorgeous, unfiltered hurricane of thoughts and feelings, she transforms Jonah’s family and changes his life. But there are always consequences when worlds collide...”This book was cute! The blurb is somewhat misleading, to be honest. When We Collided is presented in two point of views - Vivi’s and Jonah’s. To me, Vivi felt like the main character between the two, maybe because she was so much more outspoken than Jonah. These two characters are vastly different. Vivi has a bipolar disorder, but hides it under an eccentric personality. She brings Jonah and his 5 siblings back to life, in the sense that she teaches them the meaning of having fun again. Jonah is not the oldest child in the family, but he acts like the parent since his dad died and his mom is suffering for a sort of depression. He is more quiet and reserved, but loves cooking. Warning, it was very insta-lovey between them. I mean within the first 5 chapters or so, they were together. But I guess the book had to be that way, because it was about them trying to figure each other out, especially about Jonah trying to understand and deal with Vivi. Them ‘colliding’ was beneficial to each other in the long run, but at first she did seem to really just push herself onto him, and he just seemed to accept it. Not really shipping them... What I did enjoy is how the story was told. I haven’t read many books about people with mental disorders - the main one I can think of right now is The Shock of the Fall, which I highly enjoyed. This one was almost set up in the same way - the main character never says whats wrong until the last few chapters. This book did it well, but had less of an impact. A few times, Vivi left me feeling confused and upset at her for treating her friends in family the way she did, until I understood what was going on. However, I did enjoy Vivi’s brightness. She painted life and ideas so vividly (pun not intended), you couldn’t help but want to just go full carpe diem all day! Also, her relationship with Jonah’s siblings was amazing, I loved those parts so much! :D Overall I’m giving this a 3.5/5 stars. I enjoyed reading it, it was cute, but it didn’t completely blow my mind, or made me very emotional.

Have you read When We Collided? What did you think about it? Let me know! :D Have a great day!

Friday, August 12, 2016

I’m so sorry I’ve been so non-acive... I mean it’s only been a week so it’s not that much, but I’m really used to blogging more often.

I’m still getting used to, and exploring, Australia!

So I was on youtube and I saw a bunch of youtubers doing the Ruler of Books tag. Since some of them had different questions in them, I kind of combined them to make a Ruler of Books medley of sorts. ^-^

For those of you who don’t know, imagine a book kingdom, with a royal family and an amazing publishing company and everything. Now this tag asks questions as if you were the king/queen of this kingdom.

So let’s get this started! :D

1. What book would you make everyone read?

As queen (or princess) of this kingdom, I would most likely make everyone read The Giver,by Lois Lowry. This isn’t even my favorite book (although it’s way up there with my favorites), but I just think that this is something everyone has to read at least once.

2. What would you abolish from book construction?

One thing I don’t like that has to do with book making is when you have a book that’s hardback, but there’s no dustjacket (you know what I mean?). The cover is printed on the hardback itself and it’s strangely glossy and it just feels wrong.

3. What author would you commission to write every book ever? OR What autor would you commission to write a book for you?

Ooh I have a few ideas for this - either J.K. Rowling, because, let’s be honest, she’s the queen of books, Suzanne Collins, or Cassandra Clare... I have a few others but this’ll just end up being a huge list!

4. What book would you demote to the library basement to make room for new books?

Please don’t judge me too harshly for this, but I have to say The Perks of Being a Wallflower, one of the most popular books out there. I just didn’t like it, and would rather put it in the basement to make room for something I’ll enjoy more.

5. What cover artist would you commission to paint a beautiful mural?

I would probably ask Dominique Falla to make a mural. She created the cover for books such as The Sun is Also a Star, and I just love that cover!

6. What character’s face would you put on a coin?

It’s really hard to decide, but I think I might settle on Magnus Bane, or Percy Jackson. I think both would appreciate it :)

7. What book would you give the Ruler of Books award of 2016 to?

As in, what was my favorite 2016 release? That would be (surprise surprise) A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Hey all! I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!And you know what, I’m not even going to put the blurb for the book. It’ll spoil too much. Heck, the spoiler section in this review’s gonna be freaking huge. Highlight the blogpost to see the spoilers if you’re interested, or if you’ve read the book. I honestly finished reading maybe 3 minutes ago, so my thoughts are a mess. Sorry if this review doesn’t make much sense! ^-^

When’s the last time you read a book that made you put it down whilst reading in pure surprise and astonishment, while you were probably making an absolutely ridiculous facial expression that showed something along the lines of ‘oh-no-no-way-that-actually-happened’ or ‘I SHIP THEM SO MUCH EEK’ or even ‘all the feels, they’re too real, can’t handle’. This book did that and so much more for me. Having to stop reading because of reasons was hard... I practically binge-read this just today! I’m not kidding when I say that the feels were incredible, I didn’t think it would be so, so amazing to return to the world of Harry Potter with a fresh story. I know that some people have never read the books. Heck, I know people who have never read the books or seen the movies! Imagine being one of those people, knowing Harry Potter just by name and learning about all of the stories for the first time, reading them without having read it before. I wish I could do that sooo badly right now!!! That’s what reading this was like, and maybe even better, because it’s PACKED with original-series references. One thing you have to know before reading it (if you are planning on reading it) is that, as the cover says, this is a PLAY. It does not read like a novel at all, with long descriptions about places or emotions. Of course you should read this after reading/watching the original series anyway, but I recommend that you use the movies or your own image of all of the places/people mentioned in the play. Some critics have been really... well... critical about the Cursed Child because they say it is hard to read as a novel. It’s not a novel. It’s a play. It’s like criticizing Shakespeare because he didn’t write in paragraph-form. >.< I don’t know what I can say anymore without spoiling anything! If you haven’t read this, you’ll have to scroll allll the way down to see the closing remarks, sorry! For anyone who HAS read it, however, highlight the next section to read it! Guys... what am I gonna do now? Is there going to be parts 3 and 4? Or is this the (second) end of the Harry Potter franchise...? The feels I had while reading this were absolutely crazy. I laughed and cried and gasped and got confused and was all like oh-no-you-didn’t and self-congratulated the authors for coming up with ideas like the ones they came up with. I mean, make an alternate reality where Voldemort is the supreme ruler, where Mudbloods are tortured and, worst of all, Umbridge is headmistriss? One where Cedric becomes a Deatheater and Ron and Hermionie are on every wanted poster, and where Harry Potter was killed? Or another world in which Hermione teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts and is really mean? (I thought that was quite funny actually!) Such great ideas! So in this book, you have Albus (Harry and Ginny’s second son, sorted into Slytherin, and generally hated by people), Scorpius (Draco’s son, who everyone thinks is actually Voldemort’s son), and Delphi (the supposed niece of Cedric’s dad). Scorpius is probably my favorite character out of them- he’s such a nerd/geek and is kind of like Ron in the sense that he does things even though he’s afraid. Scorpius and Albus are best friends, and they want to go back in time with a time turner that Harry found to save Cedric Diggory from being killed by Voldemort in the Triwizard (Quadwizard actually? Idk) Tournament. Delphi tags along and helps them. I just love how no matter how hard they tried to set things right, they kept messing up. The thing is, every time they messed up, a new scene was created, and I always thought that it was awesome! The authors were so creative about how they combined the old books with the new one! And who doesn’t love a good time travel book? Time travel + Harry Potter universe = freaking fantastic!I was, honestly, surprised when Delphi turned out to be the villain of the book! when it is revealed that she’s actually Voldemort’s daughter, I was literally like. “Wait but how he died and he’s ugly and... BELLATRIX!” I laughed at myself and shook my head and continued reading. When she really does turn out to be Bellatrix’s and Voldemort’s daughter I couldn’t help but close the book just to laugh. (I even laughed while writing this... Just the idea of it! I mean it makes sense in some weird and twisted way, but it was just so unexpected!)At the end, when Harry watched his parents die, I cried... Aw man that was so hard to read! What I loved is that you get all of the characters back in some way or another! And what’s even better, you can still ship people!!! Like Romione! When he asks her to marry him again I thought it was just so adorable! <3 Snape is alive again (in one of the alternate realities. Sorry people!) and Dumbledore appears in paintings to talk! You get Umbridge (ew go away) and McGonagal, who is just as cool as ever! I even can now sympathize with Draco, who was a really great character in this! And Hermione as Minister of Magic!? Awesome! Ok I think I wrote enough of an essay about this (Actually I have to go to dinner ^-^). If you even just like Harry Potter, read this. It is so incredibly worth it! I’m giving this 5 feathers! No, 10 feathers. ALL THE FEATHERS!

have you read The Cursed Child? What did you think? Please let me know below so we can talk about it! :D Have a great day!

Monday, August 1, 2016

Hey all! I just finished reading The Martian, by Andy Weir! I know it took me forever to finish a book (sorry!), but I’ve been busy moving into and getting used to my new area and uni in Perth, Australia! I had to put aside reading for a bit, but finally just binge-read yesterday, and managed to finish The Martian! I also am already 115 pages into Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! The books is magical, it’s so amazing to go back into the world of Harry Potter! Be warned, though. You really can’t read this if you haven’t seen the books or movies, or if you aren’t interested - it would spoil too much!

"A mission to Mars.A freak accident.One man's struggle to survive.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars' surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, Mark won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark's not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills—and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength–he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.

As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive.

But Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.”Oof long blurb! So for some reason a lot of people think the book was based off the movie.. nah, the movie was based off the book! This book is basically about Mark Watney, a botanist, who is left behind on Mars, alone and practically without resources. He uses scientific knowledge, as well as a great sense of humor, to deal with everyday life. This book was such a cool read! Although you really have to focus to understand some of the pars, it’s totally worth the time and concentration! Mark keeps getting accidents and problems thrown in his face, and he always finds a way to make things better. Well, at least he finds ways to make things bearable. Mark is a really unique character, and super cool to read about! He has a unique sense of humor that makes you laugh even in the worst situations. [On Earth]: “He turned to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s (Mark) thinking right now.””[On Mars]: “How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.” And that’s a part of a chapter! Or even when he crashed outside, and broke a piece of his helmet“It seemed to work well. The seal looked strong and the resin was rock-hard. I did, however, glue my hand to the helmet.” And that part just drags on for half a page, it made me laugh so much hahaa! The other part of this book consists of people on Earth and in space trying to organize and coordinate a rescue mission for Mark. This part was kinda crazy, in my opinion. You had the whole world rooting for one guy on mars. It really makes you think about all kinds of things...What I found amazing was that Mark never gave up. He never thought ‘oh, I’m on Mars for over a year and a half, what are the chances of my survival? Oh well”. He always pushed through, and I thought that that was quite exceptional. I know my review is quite short, but I have to go and teach myself integration now (uh oh!). I’m giving this a 4/5 feathers!